bottling yeast starter

[tabing75]

before i made my stir plate i had to produce larger starters and was thinking that even though i was growing great yeast i was also throwing money away with the DME usage. i just kept thinking, "there has to be something i can do with this liquid!"

so i planned to make a 2.5 L starter for my Steam beer(Wyeast 2112). with 4 min left in the starter boil i added .05 oz of Simcoe(12.2%). the yeast was intermittently shaken for about 24 hrs. i cold crashed for another 24 and when it came time to pitch the yeast i decanted the liquid off. i filled 2 22oz bottles and added carb tabs.! i know it's overpitching big time but i thought what the hell. should be a fun experiment.

Beer Smith info:
SG 1.036
IBU 4.5
Color 5.5
ABV 3.5

three weeks later my buddy and i popped one open and it poured straw color and smelled a bit of yeast. believe it or not it was actually drinkable. i was anticipating disaster, cardboard, anything but what it was. we just raised our glasses and laughed......

prob wont do this again due to the smaller stir plate starters and greater amount of aeration. i just felt that it was something i had to do at least one time. has anyone else tried this? if so, was it better than keystone light?

 

[BenjaminBier]

Funny, I just did this with a lager starter that I never used and it turned out sort of decent. I wouldn't really describe it as beer, more like a mild alcoholic fizzy drink, but it was actually alright, especially considering the abuse I put it through.

I built up a starter of Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager to 2 liters. Wheat DME only. Let it sit out in my woodshed from September to December, temps ranging from 80's down to 30's, just sitting in a gallon jug inside a paper bag.

I let it warm up in the house at 60F for a few weeks and then bottled into two 750ml bottles with a splash of maple syrup. I let it carbonate, then drank it.

It was incredibly light bodied, very clean, yeast neutral, tasted lightly of the wheat, and that was it.

Not at all better or worse than a macro amber beer.

 

[BenjaminBier]

since pics make it real:

 

[Piratwolf]

Thanks for posting this! I've thought about it a hundred times, but never pulled the trigger. Now I will give it a try!

 

[BenjaminBier]

Warning: individual experience may very :fro:

 

[bratrules]

Wow a few days ago i was think the same thing as i made a starter on my stir plate using malta goya. I use some Antwerp ale yeast from my frozen yeast bank. Man it really tasted OK i remember thinking it could use more hop flavor but other than that it wasn't bad lol.

 

[kmk1012]

I see a new trend dtarting, the starters will keep on getting bigger and bigger, eventually we will need to make a starter for our starters! Just kidding-way to think green!